Spider on its web shadow box SVG
A spider hanging from its web in front of a full moon: the moon and a few stars, a bare tree on the far hill, the round web with the spider on its line below it, webs across both top corners with an old fence and a bird on its post, and a bare tree, a pumpkin and a tuft of grass at the front. 5 sheets of card, cut and stacked with a gap between each, make the picture. The files are free, and every part of the scene can be moved, swapped or resized below before you download.
5 sheets at 8 × 8 in, zipped, with a note on putting them together.
Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.
The 5 sheets
Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 5 is the front. Each one is a single piece with the same frame round its edge, so they line up when stacked. The colours shown are the “Halloween night” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 4, “Corner webs and fence”, the slowest: at 1.3 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Bare tree and grass”, fills the most of the view, 27% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Moon | A whole sheet with holes for: 5 × Plain disc | over 2 mm | 28% |
| 2. Far hill and tree | Rolling ground, with: Winter tree | 1.4 mm | 7% |
| 3. Spider and web | Rolling ground, with: Spider web with a hanging spider | over 2 mm | 13% |
| 4. Corner webs and fence | Rolling ground, with: 2 × Corner spider web and Spooky iron fence with a crow | 1.3 mm | 7% |
| 5. Bare tree and grass | A gentle slope, with: Bare tree with even branches, Pumpkin silhouette with a curly vine and Bunch of grass | over 2 mm | 27% |
Measured from the files at 8 × 8 in. The narrowest part is the thinnest neck of card that holds anything on; sharp tips are not counted. “Seen from the front” is the share of the picture that sheet fills once the sheets in front of it are in place.
Will it cut at your size?
The download is 8 × 8 in. The scene maker above makes the same scene at any of these sizes; the thinnest part scales with it.
| Frame opening | Each sheet | Narrowest part | Depth needed | Fits a 12 × 12 in mat | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 × 6 in | 152.4 × 152.4 mm | 1 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
| 20 × 20 cm | 200 × 200 mm | 1.3 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 8 × 8 in | 203.2 × 203.2 mm | 1.3 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 23 × 23 cm | 230 × 230 mm | 1.5 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
| 25 × 25 cm | 250 × 250 mm | 1.6 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Cuts easily |
Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.
Making this one
The round web is about 11 cm across at 8 inches and the spider about 3 cm, and the two are one piece: the spider hangs from the web on a line of card, and the top spoke of the web runs into the frame, so nothing hangs on a thread. The strands of the web are over 2 mm wide, so that sheet is sturdier than it looks. The sheet with the corner webs and the fence is the fine cutting, at about 1.3 mm, and the far tree is about 1.4 mm. Cut the cells of a web from the middle outwards, so that the card round the blade is still held on all sides, and lift the sheet off the mat slowly, from the frame inwards. In the Halloween night colours the web is purple against an orange sky. For a pale web against the dark, choose the Snow colours: the back sheet turns dark blue and the web pale blue.
- Cut all 5 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
- Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
- Put strips of 3 mm foam tape round the border of sheet 1 and press sheet 2 onto it with the edges level. Carry on to sheet 5.
- Fit the stack into a deep frame with the front sheet against the glass. For a light box, run a strip of warm white LEDs round the inside of the frame behind the stack.
The zip includes these steps as a text file, each sheet as its own SVG and all 5 side by side in one SVG. More on paper, frames and lights is on the shadow box page.
The parts, on their own
Everything in the scene comes from the free SVG library, where each has its own page and file:
Questions
Can I cut the web by hand?
Yes, with patience. Nothing in the scene is under 1.3 mm at 8 inches and the round web is bolder than that, but it has many small cells between its strands and each is cut out one at a time. Print the sheet at full size, tape it over the card and cut through both, starting with the smallest cells at the middle of the web.
How is this different from the other Halloween scenes?
Here the spider and its web are the subject, and there is no house and no figure in it. The Haunted house scene has a crooked house on a hill with bats, the Witch and moon scene a witch on her broomstick, and the Row of jack-o-lanterns scene five carved pumpkins.
Can I sell boxes I make with it?
Yes. Finished pieces are yours to sell. The files themselves may not be sold or shared; send people to this page. See the licence.
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